Chasing the Sun
by awriterinthedark
Summary: The time to stop Hades is running out, and Zelena might be the only one who knows how to stop him, but is she willing? Inspired by the song "Chasing the Sun" by Sara Bareilles. Warning: major character death


**A/N: This one-shot is based on the song _Chasing the Sun_ by Sara Bareilles**

 _ **It's a really old city,  
**_ _ **Stuck between the dead and the living**_

Zelena didn't know where, exactly, she was going. But she needed time to clear her mind and Hades said there was still plenty of time until the Olympian Crystal was ready. He was still being vague about what is was for, which concerned Zelena. But he had said he wanted to change. He was her true love. Certainly he had a reason... _right?_

Zelena shook her head to clear her clouded mind and realized that she had wandered to the Storybrooke graveyard. Instead of continuing past like any sane person would have, Zelena stopped, looking at the rows of graves. She could see the outline of Regina's vault in the distance and Zelena subconsciously stepped off of the road and into the grass. She pushed the gate open and stepped into the cemetery.

 _ **So I thought to myself,**_  
 _ **Sitting on a graveyard shelf**_  
 _ **As the echo of heartbeats**_  
 _ **From the ground below my feet**_  
 _ **Filled a cemetery**_  
 _ **In the center of Queens**_

Zelena found the name she was looking for easily. She wasn't even aware she had been searching for his grave until she saw it. She sat down on the damp grass, staring at the name engraved on the dull stone. It was the only person she ever felt any remorse for killing so soon after the fact.

 _Neal Cassidy._

Zelena knew that it would take more than a simple 'I'm sorry' for Emma and Henry to forgive her for killing Neal. And if Henry wouldn't forgive Zelena, she was afraid Regina would side with her son. But even if not that, there was no way Robin could forgive the witch for manipulating him and Roland both. And that filled Zelena with more regret than killing Neal ever had. _If she had just taken the second chance Regina had offered..._

 _ **I started running the maze of**_  
 _ **The names and the dates,**_  
 _ **Some older than others**_  
 _ **The skyscrapers' little tombstone brothers**_  
 _ **With Manhattan behind her,**_  
 _ **Three million stunning reminders**_  
 _ **Built a cemetery**_  
 _ **In the center of Queens**_

Zelena slowly stood up. She brushed her hand across the top of Neal's gravestone before continuing down the rows of graves. Most were names of people that Zelena didn't recognize, but a few belonged to people she knew or had heard about.

 _Cruella De Vil. Ingrid "Snow Queen" of Arendelle. Killian Jones. Cora Mills._

Zelena stopped. She assumed Cora's body was in the vault next to Regina's father. She didn't even think Cora would have gotten a tombstone. Then again, Cruella had.

A few more tombstones down, there was another name that Zelena knew meant a lot to Regina; _Daniel Colter_. Zelena only knew one Daniel who's grave would have been next to Regina's vault, which was where Zelena was now standing. Once again, she assumed Daniel's body would have been safe in the vault.

But then Zelena remembered something Robin had told her about, when she was disguised as Marian. A story of Regina having to re-kill Daniel after Doctor Whale brought him back as a Frankenstein monster. Regina must have put a gravestone for him in the graveyard after that, as a memento rather than a stone to mark where his body was buried deep below the surface of the earth.

 _ **You said, remember that life is**_  
 _ **Not meant to be wasted**_  
 _ **We can always be chasing the sun**_

Another memory from New York popped into Zelena's mind. Robin had been talking to Roland, lulling the boy back to sleep after a nightmare. But the six-year-old had long since fallen back into the land of dreams. Robin was talking to himself, muttering something about not wasting your life. Because you can always chase your dreams, no matter how far away they may seem.

The last thing he muttered before leaving Roland's side was a quiet, _"I'll see you again, Regina. I promise."_

Zelena had been seething with jealousy at the time. Why, after all this, would Robin still choose Regina over her?! She had become the woman he loved and lost! What more could Robin possibly want?!

The answer was simple. The reason he couldn't love Zelena as Marian was not because Zelena wasn't Marian enough. It was because she wasn't Regina. And she never would be.

 _ **So fill up your lungs and just run**_  
 _ **We'll always be chasing the sun**_

Chasing the sun. That's what Zelena felt like she was doing those weeks she was pretending to be Marian. Robin was the sun, and she was Pluto. The sun could never care about her because he had better thing to care about. He had _Regina_ to care about.

Zelena sunk to her knees in front of Daniel's grave.

"I don't understand!" She shouted to no one in particular. "Why does _she_ get him?!" When Zelena heard those words escape from her mouth, the answer became quite obviously. Zelena was _whiny_ , and she was jealous, and _no one_ could ever love her.

Zelena's eyes widened.

 _No one could ever love her._

 _Hades!_

Zelena shot to her feet, chilled to the bone. _Something was wrong, something was wrong._ There was no way Hades could truly love her. Maybe they had true love, which didn't add up in Zelena's mind, but she had a very bad feeling about leaving Hades with her daughter in Regina's office. But she would have to sneak back in because of that _stupid_ protection spell Hades had insisted upon.

 _ **So how do you do it**_  
 _ **With just words and just music,**_  
 _ **Capture the feeling**_  
 _ **That my earth is somebody's ceiling?**_

Regina and Robin were nearing the exit of the underground tunnel entrance to Storybrooke City Hall when Robin grabbed Regina's hand, causing her to stop. Regina was hesitant to turn and face him. They weren't exactly on good terms since their fight about the baby in the Underworld.

"Regina, you don't have to do this."

Regina's eyes met Robin's and she knew he was worried for her. "I'm not backing out now."

"Please," Robin stepped closer to her, "stop being stubborn and listen to me. I'm sorry about what happened between us in the Underworld. I know you want Zelena to redeem herself, and I should have listened to you and _trusted_ you. I just..." Robin sighed. "I'm human, and I make mistakes. I don't want you doing this because you feel like you owe me."

"I'm not," Regina assured him. "I'm doing this because there is _no way_ I am letting you walk into that lion's den alone, and I don't want your daughter getting hurt."

"You- you're willing to risk your life for my daughter?"

"Of course!" Regina answered as if it were obvious. "Robin, if I sat around while she was in danger and she ended up hurt because of it, not only would _you_ never forgive me, but _I_ could never forgive myself. We are going to get your daughter and we are going to talk some sense into my sister and defeat Hades."

Robin smiled. He pulled Regina into a hug. "You are amazing, Milady."

 _ **Can I deliver in sound**_  
 _ **The weight of the ground**_  
 _ **Of a cemetery**_  
 _ **In the center of Queens?**_

Zelena ran into Emma outside of the city hall. The blonde was holding folded up storybook pages in her hand. When she saw Zelena, her eyes widened and she hid the pages behind her back.

"Zelena...I, uh, thought you were inside?"

Zelena shrugged, not in the mood to talk to Emma. "Where's my sister?"

"...Inside."

 _Oh no._ A wave of horror washed over Zelena's body, paralyzing her. If Regina was inside, Robin was most definitely with her, and the Olympian Crystal might be ready to 'protect Zelena and Hades from their enemies'. And Zelena had a bad feeling that those enemies included Regina and Robin.

Zelena thought back to the pages in Emma's hand. If they were what she suspected, then Zelena may have a fighting chance at saving her sister. But there was no way Emma would believe Zelena wanted to take Hades down after their true love's kiss.

"What are those storybook pages?" Zelena needed to make sure she was right before she acted out.

Emma stumbled backwards. "Uh...nothing."

If Zelena had time to explain to Emma everything that was running through her mind, she would have. But she didn't even know where to start. How could she put her jumbled up feelings into words when she hardly even knew _what_ she was feeling?

"They're the pages with Hades, aren't they?"

Emma's facial expression was all Zelena needed to know she was right. Emma went pale and her eyes grew wide.

"I'm sorry for this, Emma, I really am." Before Emma even had a chance to comprehend Zelena's words, the witch blasted a wave of magic at Emma that knocked her unconscious. Zelena snatched the pages and made her way into the city hall, hoping she wasn't too late.

 _ **There's a history through her**_  
 _ **Sent to us as a gift from the future,**_  
 _ **To show us the proof**_

Regina and Robin walked down the hallway silently, making sure even their breathing was quiet. Regina's office was on the second floor, and they were afraid Hades would hear the elevator, so they chose to take the stairs instead.

"You okay?" Robin whispered. Regina hadn't spoken to him since their conversation in the tunnel.

Regina glanced back at Robin and nodded. "Yeah, I just...I have a bad feeling about this. Like someone besides Hades isn't going to leave this building alive. And if it's you, I just..." Regina sighed. "I can't lose you, Robin. I don't know what I would do." Regina hesitated, the words she wanted to say so desperately on the tip of her tongue, but she was afraid to let them go. She was afraid to give those three words away to someone again. But she heard herself say them, and she hoped Robin knew how much she truly meant them, "...I love you."

Robin smiled. He hadn't expected Regina to say those words, but he was waiting until she was ready to say them back, because he didn't want to push her.

"I love you too."

Robin pulled Regina into a kiss.

 _ **More than that, it's to dare us to move**_  
 _ **And to open our eyes,**_  
 _ **And to learn from the sky**_  
 _ **From a cemetery**_  
 _ **In the center of Queens**_

Zelena had to take the tunnel into the city hall because of the protection spell. She would have used a blood magic spell that would allow her back in through the door, but Regina could have broken that without even trying.

As she walked, she looked at the storybook pages she had taken from Emma. They told of her encounter with Hades in Oz, and of an encounter Hades had with someone named Liam Jones. Zelena thought she may have recalled Hook having a brother named Liam, but she wasn't sure if his name had been Liam or something else that started with an L. Maybe his brother was named Leo or Leroy.

Zelena folded the pages back up and slid them into her pocket. Her hand brushed against something else in her pocket; a scrap of paper and a pencil. She suddenly remembered why they were in there. She had been meaning to write a note to Regina, explaining some things.

She took the paper and pencil out and enchanted the pencil so it would write down what Zelena said as she continued walking.

 _ **You said, remember that life is**_  
 _ **Not meant to be wasted**_

"Regina," Zelena began, "after our mother returned our lost memories, you told me that my life - that my second chance - should not be wasted. You told me that there will always be dreams we can chase that are far bigger than anything we can achieve, but you also said that sometimes our dreams are more achievable than we think. That we aren't always chasing the sun when we think we are."

Zelena thought back to New York and what she had overheard Robin saying so long ago. It sounded similar to what Regina had told her in the Underworld, and she wasn't sure if Regina had been quoting Robin or vice versa. It didn't really matter though, because both times, the words had resonated inside of Zelena.

"Well, I have been chasing my sun for a while now. The problem is, our suns are one and the same. I managed to reach my sun, but at what cost? I ripped you away from your soulmate and manipulated you and your family just because I was jealous that my sun loved you. What I didn't realize was that he was never _my_ sun. He was always yours, because he chose to be yours, and you chose to be his. I have no place there, and yet I couldn't fathom that the sun wouldn't want me, and so I forced my way in. Something that I now regret doing.

"So I guess what I'm trying to say is sorry. I am so, incredibly, _sorry_ , for what I did to Robin. I forced him to break your heart in hopes that he would choose me. But I was never even an option in his mind. I understand that now-"

A crash sounded from above Zelena, and she stopped walking. She had to hurry, before Hades could hurt Regina, Robin, or her daughter. Zelena shoved the note and the pencil into her pocket, took the storybook pages out, and began to run for her sister.

 _ **We can always be chasing the sun**_

Regina was tied to the wall, where the mirror had been before it fell and shattered. Hades had smacked the magic prevention cuff onto her wrist before she could even think to escape. Robin was on the other side of the room in front of his daughter, with Hades blocking his path to Regina.

"Now," Hades pointed the Olympian Crystal first at Robin, and then towards Regina, "which of you should I destroy first?"

Regina thought she heard the elevator ding, but Hades didn't seem to, so maybe it was just in Regina's mind. Still, if someone was here, Regina needed to distract Hades long enough for them to sneak in and take him out.

"Where is my sister?"

Hades shrugged. "At the moment, she is none of my concern. If she wants to go prance around Storybrooke while I kill you two, that makes it easier for me to justify your deaths." Hades pointed the Crystal at Regina. Regina tried to free herself, because she knew that if Robin was able to, he would jump in front of the blast for her, and she didn't want that to happen.

"You see, Regina, you and I could have made a great team."

"I would _never_ team up with you," Regina spat. "I don't team up with lying scum."

"Oh really?" Hades raised an eyebrow. "But once upon a time, you would have. Do you not remember your alliances with the great and terrible Captain Hook? And Rumplestlitskin? And your own mother? Back in your days of glory - the days of the Evil Queen - we could have taken down our enemies together and ruled the world."

"You already trying to cheat on Zelena?" Regina asked, hoping against hope that someone was on their way inside. Even if it was Zelena, who Regina wasn't sure she trusted at the moment.

 _ **So fill up your lungs and just run**_  
 _ **We'll always be chasing the sun**_

Zelena heard voices coming from Regina's office, and they definitely belonged to the three people that should never be alone in a room together. Because Zelena knew that if she didn't knock some sense into Hades soon (or just knock him out) someone would be completely and utterly destroyed. And Zelena was afraid it was going to be her sister.

As Zelena ran down the hallway, book pages in hand, she truly felt as if she was chasing after the sun. Doubt flooded her mind, making her want to turn back. She would save Robin, and he would turn around and make sure Regina was okay. What was the point?

But it was the thought of Regina that fueled Zelena's desire to help. The thought of her sister dead or worse was unbearable. And worse than death surely included being broken for eternity because Robin was gone forever.

 _"ROBIN!"_ Zelena heard her sister's voice coming from the office. _No, she couldn't be too late! She was almost there!_

Zelena swung open the door to Regina's office and the first thing she saw was the light from the Olympian Crystal.

 _ **All we can do is try**_  
 _ **And live like we're still alive**_

Hades ignored Regina's question about cheating on Zelena and continued speaking. "Unfortunately, the magnificent Evil Queen turned into a weak hero."

"I am not _weak_!" Regina shouted. She could take being called terrible, evil, and even being called a murderer who no one could love. But _weak_ was the one adjective Regina would fight against.

"Are you sure about that?" Hades turned so he was facing Robin. The Olympian Crystal had sparks shooting out of it. Regina tried to do anything she could to get out of her bounds, but without her magic, it was useless. "I'll show you how weak you really are, Regina. This Crystal will not only kill your dear thief; it will completely end him. He will be destroyed, _forever_. I believe is was your mother who always said 'love is weakness'. Let's see if she's right, shall we?"

 _"ROBIN!"_ Regina screamed, begging something - anything - to stop Hades to kill her soulmate.

As the light shot out from the Olympian Crystal, the door opened and through the light, Regina could see her sister. Book pages - why on earth would Zelena have those - floated out of Zelena's hand and onto the ground. She moved forward, on instinct, placing herself in between Robin and Hades.

 _ **It's a really old city,**_  
 _ **Stuck between the dead and the living...**_

Once Zelena opened the door to the office, everything seemed to happen in slow motion. The light from the Crystal was headed straight for Robin's heart. Regina was bound to the wall, unable to do anything.

The pages slipped from between Zelena's fingers.

She stepped in between the magic and Robin, standing between two of the three people she had ever harbored feelings for. Behind her was Robin, the thief who only stole for the right reasons, and who could never love her because he was so deeply in love with Regina. In front of her was Hades, who had lied to her and betrayed her despite the fact that he was apparently her true love. And the third was - thank goodness - not there.

Zelena heard a faint _"Zelena, NO!"_ from Regina, but it sounded as if she were standing on the other end of an empty field. Zelena felt her body fall to the ground, but her soul was still standing. She looked over at Regina, who had tears streaming down her face.

If Zelena could have spoken, she would have told Regina many things. She could have written a ten-page essay about why she sacrificed herself for Robin, but she knew her soul would soon fade into nothing, and she couldn't say anything.

But she moved her lips to form the words, _'Chase your sun,'_ hoping Regina knew what that meant.

Zelena looked down at her feet, which were already fading into nothing. She gave into the forces dissolving her soul and closed her eyes.

 _ **So I thought to myself,**_  
 _ **Sitting on a graveyard shelf**_  
 _ **And the gift of my heartbeat**_  
 _ **Sounds like a symphony**_

When Zelena opened her eyes, everything was white. Slowly, a graveyard came into focus and she realized she was sitting on top of a tombstone. She lowered her hand to trace the name engraved on it and smiled when she realized what it said.

 _Zelena Mills._

No _Wicked Witch of the West_. Just _Zelena_. That was who she wanted to be remembered as; _Zelena._

She heard a sound echoing throughout the cemetery, _Ba-bum. Ba-bum._ A heart beat - _her_ heartbeat.

A piece of paper and a pencil appeared in front of Zelena, floating in the air. Zelena began speaking to it, telling Regina why she have sacrificed everything.

The letter was short, because Zelena had very little time in the graveyard, she knew that.

 _ **Played by a cemetery**_  
 _ **In the center of Queens...**_

As soon as the stones around her began to fade back to white, Zelena ended the letter and the note disappeared. The heartbeat echoing through the cemetery stopped, creating a silence. When the heart beat stopped, so did the witch's breathing.

Zelena embraced the end.

 _ **You said, remember that life is**_  
 _ **Not meant to be wasted**_  
 _ **We can always be chasing the sun**_

 _"NO!"_ As soon as Zelena's soul faded, Regina's magic burned straight through the cuff and the ropes tying her to the wall. Robin could only stand and look at Zelena's lifeless body, wondering why she would sacrifice herself for him. With Regina's bonds gone, she was free to move around, but she simply turned to Hades, her eyes burning with hatred. "YOU _KILLED_ HER!"

As soon as Hades had realized he had killed Zelena, the Crystal had fallen to the floor and he seemed as paralyzed as Robin was. Regina picked up the Crystal, the anguish and grief in her heart making it brighter. She raised it, ready to impale Hades.

"I didn't mean to-" he tried to protest.

"I don't care," Regina growled. She thrust the bolt down into Hades, and he crumpled. Regina didn't even take the time to make sure he was really dead before she dropped on her knees, next to Zelena. Regina took one of her sister's hands into her hands. "Please, Zelena... Please come back. _You were my sun too_." Tears dripped onto Zelena's body as Regina wept over her sister. She slowly leaned down and hugged her. "I told you not to waste your second chance. Why would you do that? _Why?_ "

 _ **So fill up your lungs and just run,**_  
 _ **We'll always be chasing the sun**_

Emma, Snow, and David arrived in the office a few minutes later, expecting a fight against Zelena and Hades. But as soon as the saw Regina and Robin sitting over Zelena's body, both with tears falling from their eyes, they knew Zelena had actually been trying to do the right thing when she stole the pages from Emma.

Robin heard them enter, and looked up at the door, but Regina stayed where she was, her head on top of Zelena's chest, hoping for a heartbeat to start up again somehow. Robin slowly stood up and made his way to the Charmings.

"What happened?" Snow asked in a hushed voice. She glanced back st Regina, who was still shaking.

"I'll explain it later," Robin said, not quite ready to repeat what he had just experienced. "Regina's not going to leave her body. I'm not sure how to get her home."

"Try to get her to turn to you instead," Emma suggested. "Then I can use my magic to transport us to her house." Emma turned back to her parents. "Can you two make sure the baby stays safe- I mean, if that's alright with you?" Emma glanced back at Robin.

Robin nodded. His options at the moment were either trust Snow and Charming with his daughter or separate himself from Regina while she was suffering, and the latter was not something Robin ever wanted to do.

Robin sat down next to Regina and rubbed her back. "Regina..."

"I don't want to go," Regina mumbled.

Robin was tempted to just stay there and wait until she fell asleep to take her home, but he wasn't sure how long that would take and there was no way he could get her home without someone else driving or using magic. He couldn't carry her all the way to her house, and he hadn't learned to drive since he had been brought to Storybrooke in the second Dark Curse.

Before Robin could even think of anything else to say, his daughter started crying. No one made a move to pick her up, because they all knew she wanted Zelena.

Regina slowly rose to her feet and shakily walked over to the baby. She lifted her from her seat and held her close to her chest, bouncing to soothe her. Robin glanced up at the Charmings, who shrugged. He looked to Emma, who mouthed the word, _'Henry'_.

It suddenly made sense to Robin why Regina was so protective of both Roland and his daughter. She had raised a child of her own, yes, but it was more than that. She had raised a child who _wasn't_ her own, biologically speaking. Whenever Roland or the baby needed something, Regina had a tendency to soothe them before Robin even had a chance to get to them.

Regina slowly walked back over to Zelena's body and sat down next to it, the baby still in her arms. "I'm going to tell you a story," she whispered to the baby as if no one else was in the room. "This is the story of a witch named Zelena, and it starts with the sun."

 _ **All we can do is try**_  
 _ **And live like we're still alive**_

"...she gave her life for you, and for me, and for your father, and she will always be remembered as a hero for that sacrifice," Regina finished. The baby had long since fallen asleep to the sound of Regina's voice, but the Queen had continued her story anyways.

Regina turned and placed Robin's daughter in his arms. "I think I'm ready to go home now."

"She never even got to name her daughter," Robin muttered. His eyes met Regina and he knew they were thinking the same thing.

"Zelena," they whispered in unison.

 _ **All we can do is try**_

The notes from Zelena hadn't been found until just before her funeral. One was clearly from before she had sacrificed herself, and the other sounded as if it had been written after the sacrifice, and Regina figured Zelena had found some way to explain herself after her death. Which meant that she was, quite possibly, in the Underworld. But if the note had appeared, it must have been her unfinished business, meaning she would be in Olympus now.

Regina slowly unfolded the second note and began to read, in front of the small group of people gathered together in the graveyard for Zelena's funeral.

 _"'Regina,_

 _I know you'll never forgive me for this sacrifice, but there is a whole list of things I don't expect you or Robin - or_ anyone _\- to forgive me for. I don't have any death wishes except for you and Robin to raise the baby up to be a hero, alongside Roland and Henry. You two will be better parents for her than I could ever hope to be._

 _Now, I'm sure you're wondering why I would sacrifice myself for Robin. It wasn't just because I felt bad for manipulating him, though that was part of it. I could never be forgiven for what I put you through, and I'm not asking for forgiveness. I just hope that in the end, I made the right choice for once in my life._

 _And I know, you told me that my second chance was not meant to be wasted. Don't worry, I don't feel as if I've wasted it. I did what I was meant to with my life, and I saved your soul. Had Robin died instead of me, you would never have forgiven me or yourself. But this way, I hope we can all be happy with the choices we've made. I know I am._

 _Like I said in my first letter, Robin is your sun no matter how hard I tried to make him mine._

 _I'm running out of time, but please, Regina, live your life. Don't spend the rest of your life grieving me. Move on to bigger and better things. Start your future with Robin now, because you both deserve your happy ending. In fact, everyone in Storybrooke does._

 _Make sure Mother knows I love her, when you see her again. And know that I love you too, sis._

 _Yours Truly,_  
 _Zelena'"_

Once she was finished, Regina lowered her head and walked back to Robin's side.

 _ **And live like we're still alive...**_


End file.
